Safety Management Systems in Major Accident Hazards Companies: Development Criteria and Performance Evaluation Tools

Abstract

EU Directive 96/82 (Seveso II) emphasises the need to overcome the formal technical approach for the control of major accident hazards based only on an Safety analysis. The present paper aims to provide a contribution regarding the definition of the tools for assessing the effectiveness of a SMS by means of performance indicators. Tools for an effective control of hazard, of which SMSs play an important role, and the need to go beyond static evaluation methods for risk analysis are discussed. The integration of the existing methods for risk analysis with the actual practices for the management and control of production processes is recognised as one of the most important issues for implementing SMSs in SMEs. A set of possible SMSs performance indicators, their role in major accident hazards control and an example of application in a practical context are presented. Performance indicators should become input values in the context of all activities of the companies' processes.

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